Many of us may have lists of contacts and followers on social media networks that extend into the thousands, but new research has found we may actually only have five real friends.
我們中的許多人通訊錄里的聯系人和社交媒體網絡上的好友可以增加到數千人，但是新研究指出，事實上我們擁有的真正意義上的朋友可能只有5個。

A team of scientists have found that while humans have the capacity to form complex layered societies, we face an upper limit to how many friends we can have in our inner circle.
一個科學家團隊發現，人們可以構建紛繁復雜、層次分明的社會群體，而在自己的社交圈里，我們擁有的朋友數量是有上限的。

They say this upper limit of five has likely gone unchanged for hundreds of thousands of years and probably governed social relationships when humans lived as groups of hunters.
他們表示，幾十萬年來，5個朋友的上限可能從未改變，或許從人類集體狩獵開始，這種模式一直掌控著人際關系。

Whenever we add someone new to our social network, they argue, each new friend is actually slightly more distant than those of the inner circle.
他們認為，無論我們在什么時候從社交網絡上添加新朋友，每位新朋友還是比我們圈子里的朋友要稍微有距離些。

It suggests that while we may have just a few friends, we can still surround ourselves with acquaintances.
這表明了我們可能只有幾個朋友，但周圍卻圍繞著一群熟人。

Michael Harré and Mikhail Prokopenko, both with the University of Sydney in Australia, said while we may only have five close friends, our social network from them can extend to 132 people.
來自悉尼大學的邁克爾?哈雷和米哈伊爾?普羅科彭科表示，雖然我們只擁有5個親密朋友，但是我們可以通過他們把自己的社交網絡擴展至132人。

The researchers built computer models to analyse human social networks and then compared them to hunter-gatherer societies.
研究者創建了電腦模型來分析人類社交網絡，接著將分析出來的數據同采集狩獵社群進行對比。

They explain that from an evolutionary perspective, it was important to have small groups of close-knit social connections when humans were on hunting expeditions and other dangerous stations.
他們從進化的角度解釋道，處在狩獵探險或其他危險情況下，擁有緊密社會聯系的小團體對人類而言是至關重要的。

This would mean that we did not have to be as close with the rest of the wider group - as long as we had a strong bond with around 5 others.
這意味著只要我們和5個朋友關系親密，就無需與更多的人保持緊密聯系。

Even now, as we add or follow others on social media, most new connections are made through meeting friends of others.
即使現在我們會在社交媒體上添加或關注其他人，但大部分人還是通過與其他人的朋友見面形成新的聯系。

Writing in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, the researchers said: conclude that humans were probably egalitarian in hunter–gatherer-like societies, maintaining an average maximum of four or five social links connecting all members in a largest social network of around 132 people.'
研究者在《英國皇家學會界面雜志》上寫到：我們得到的結論是處在狩獵采集者之類的社會團體中，人類可能會主張平等主義，他們會保持人均4到5個的社會聯系人，把這些聯系人整合起來，我們最多能將社交網絡關系擴展至132人左右。

As we form new connections and relationships, they become increasingly distant from our 'core' starting group
當我們構建新型連接與關系時，這些人離我們最初的核心團體越來越遠。

The researchers added that the 'social brain hypothesis' describes 'neurologically constrained capacity for maintaining long-term stable relationships'.
研究者補充道，“社會化大腦假說”描述的是維持長期穩定關系的神經控制能力。

The 'hunter-gatherer' example shows how social hierarchies can form - you only need to directly know a few people in a large group in order to become a leader figure.
“狩獵者采集者”的例子證明了社會階層是如何形成的，要成為領導者，你只需直接了解大團體中的幾個人便可。

The researchers say that while social media is changing the number of people we can be connected to - in 2014, the mean average number of Facebook friends was 338 - it is unlikely to change the number of friends we actually have.
2014年，臉書用戶的平均朋友數是338人。研究者表示，雖然社交媒體正在改變我們聯系人的數量，但這不太可能會對我們實際擁有的朋友數造成影響。

來源：英國每日郵報

翻譯：蔡瓊茹

編審：yaning